History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v2.c25.s19: Amritsar.

History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v2.c25.s19

Language: English

Amritsar.

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One other example may serve for the present to complete what we have to say regarding the temples of modern India.

This time, however, it is no longer an idol-shrine, but a monotheistic place of prayer, and differs, consequently, most essentially from those we have been describing. The religion of the Sikhs appears to have been a protest alike against the gross idolatry of the Hindûs and the inflexible monotheism of the Moslims. It does not, however, seem that temples or gorgeous ceremonial formed any part of the religious system propounded by its founders. Reading the 'Granth' and prayer are what were

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355. The Golden Temple in the Sacred Tank at Amritsar, from the north-east.

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insisted upon, but even then not necessarily in public. We, in consequence, know but little of their temples, of which they seem to have but few. Râmdâs, the fourth Sikh Guru, or high priest, obtained a grant of the site of Amritsar from the tolerant Akbar, dug the tank, which is 170 yds. square, and began the temple, which was completed by his successor, Arjun. It was named Har-mandir, and stood in the middle of the tank; but Ahmad Shâh Abdâlî, on his return from Pânîpat in 1761, was opposed near Ludhiânâ by a Sikh army, which he signally defeated, and entering Amritsar blew up the Harmandir with gunpowder and desecrated all their sacred places. The temple was rebuilt in 1766, probably on the same plan as well as on the site of the former. It stands on a platform 67 ft. square, connected with the north side of the tank by a marble causeway 203 ft. in length; the temple itself—40 ft. 4 in. square—is of two storeys, with a room on the roof, covered by the dome. Ranjît Singh, after seizing the city in 1802, was too emulous of the wealth of his Hindû and Moslim subjects in this respect not to desire to rival their magnificence. He spent large sums on the Sikh temple, ornamenting its walls with marbles largely from Jahângîr's tomb, and roofing it with copper gilt, and consequently we have the Golden Temple in the Sacred Tank at Amritsar—as splendid an example of its class as can be found in India, though neither its outline nor its details can be commended (Woodcut No. 355).¹ It is useful, however, as exemplifying one of the forms which Indian temple-architecture assumed in the 19th century, and where, for the present, we must leave it. The Jains and Hindûs may yet do great things in it, if they can escape the influence of European imitation; but now that the sovereignty has passed from the Sikhs we cannot expect their priests or people to indulge in a magnificence their religion does not countenance or encourage.

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¹ In Ranjît Singh's time the temple acquired its present Sikh name of 'Darbâr Sâhib.'

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At Nânder, on the Godâvarî, midway between Aurangâbâd and Haidarâbâd there is another Sikh Dehrâ or shrine. Here Govind Singh, the tenth and last of their Gurus or pontiffs, was stabbed by a Pathân servant and died in 1708. It is built on the plan of the Amritsar temple, being of two storeys, with the dome, which is over the square room in the centre of the structure, raised a storey higher. This inner room has silver plated doors on the four sides and contains the tomb, about which are arranged swords, spears, shields, and steel discuses, that are worshipped by the Sikhs of the colony settled in the town, and by numerous pilgrims that visit the shrine, as having belonged to the Guru.² Round it is a corridor, as in many Muhammadan tombs, and the outer walls have a triple opening on each face, hung with curtains. In it the Granth is daily read and worshipped.

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² Trumpp, 'Adi Granth,' introd. p. 96. The arrows of the Guru were carried to Amritsar after his death by his disciple Banda Bairâgî. A list of the Sikh Dehrâs and sacred places is given in 'Journal Asiat. Soc. Bengal,' vol. xiv. pp. 394ff.

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CONTENTS. Cenotaphs—Palaces at Gwâliar, Chitor, Amber, Dîg—Ghâts—Reservoirs—Dams.

Linked texts (2)

Nander
Granth Sāhib — Gurū Arjun 1579, Hindi